ELTAX DVR-555HD, DVD RECORDER WITH 250GB HARDDISK

April 10, 2008 | By Doug In DVD Recorders |

ELTAX DVR-555HD, DVD RECORDER WITH 250GB HARDDISK
FEATURES: -BUILT-IN 250GB HARDDISK FOR MORE THAN 300 HOURS RECORDING. -DVD-RECORDING ON DVD+R/RW MEDIA. -PLAYBACK OF DVD,DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD-RW, VCD, SVCD, CD, CD-R,CD-RW,CD-WMA, MP3, JPEG. -PLAYBACK OF DIVX5, DIVX4 AND DIVX3. TIME SHIFT FUNCTION -WATCH THE BEGINING WHILE YOU RECORD THE END. -USB INPUT FOR MP3 + MP4 PORTABLE PLAYERS.

Customer Review: Poor and unreliable
As a straightforward VCR player/recorder this machine is good but it was bought for more than that. Its DVD recording qualities and capabilities let it down badly. When setting it to record to DVD from TV, it will sometimes fail to record at all. When it does record, and at a later date I put the disc in the machine, it will often either fail to read the disc altogether or indicate that the disc is empty which it clearly is not. It has now started another trick - when playing a pre-recorded DVD in the machine, part way through the film, the picture froze and now the machine is refusing to read the disc. I can’t replace this machine quickly enough. The instruction book is also very poor - far too basic and not really very helpful at all.
Customer Review: Slow and poor!
Switch this on and it wants to default to DVD every time, even if no DVD is in it tries to read one; this can take up to 90 seconds and won’t let you do anything while it does this. High quality recording needs short time of recording so forget anything more than about 1 hour with perfect recording quaility. Every time I insert a DVD it wants to display subtitles and sometimes refuses to allow you to cancel them. The VCR is the best part of this device as it works every time; set DVD to record on timer and its hit and miss whether you get anything recorded or get the programme you want. In my opinion, forget this, its simply not as good as it should be.
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The LS external DVD writer employs the very best of Freecom technology, enabling you to burn your data onto dual-layer DVDs. It also features LightScribe labelling technology, which burns a perfect label directly onto your disc, and efficiently saves and archives your documents. With this writer, you can save up to 8.5 GB of data onto one dual-layer DVD in just a few minutes! Extremely quick off the mark, the LS has a record-breaking writing speed of 48x to CD and 20x to DVD, and is very easy to use thanks to its USB 2.0 port, which allows you to save your data to CD or DVD.
Amazon Price: ?34.99
Customer Review: Too Easy!
Plug it in, turn it on and you’re ready. I haven’t bothered with their software as I have a good recording programme. I also haven’t tried burning DVD’s yet either, but a music CD was done in just over 3 minutes. Excellent and recommended. Only slight downside is it’s size. It is a bit big, but otherwise spot on! Amazon’s service was first class once again.
Customer Review: Works with a mac!
If you already have burning software (I have toast) then this works with a mac! Great value!
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Used Price: ?231.90
Customer Review: Love It!!
This for me is as close to getting Sky+ as I can get without having to shell out for one of Mr Murdoch’s whizzy boxes! I’m impressed with the Guide+, but I’ve noticed that if a programme is shown at a different time the following week the guide doesn’t follow suit. However, the fact that I can get it to change channels on Sky is a big bonus, I can now record what I like on whichever channel I like without using Sky’s EPG. OK, the Guide+ doesn’t list all channels on Sky, but for me the key ones are there, and you can manually enter channel numbers anyway. The 160GB HDD is more than enough space, I’ve been recording programmes left right and centre, and hooking it up to a VCR to transfer material from VHS to HDD is easy peasy. The picture quality is fine, I use SP for programmes to watch at a later date, and the editing functions are great.
Customer Review: Fantastic machine changes the way you watch tv
The previous reviews seem concerned about the lack of network capability to transfer mp3 files from a PC. I think this entirely misses the point. The Pioneer records TV at great quality and you can edit the recording (with ease) to remove adverts etc before saving to DVD-R if you so wish. But the best thing is that the machine comes with Guide+ from which you can schedule timed recordings. These recordings can be made using the internal tuner or from external decoders such as SKY satellite box or Freeview boxes. Up to 3 of these can be connected and an infared cable changes channel on the decoders when required. This is the fantastic bit. You choose which channels appear in Guide+ and tell which decoder they can be found on. I couldn't find another box that was capable of doing all this. And it is all easy to do, I didn't have to refer to the pretty comprehensive manual at all. And yes you can store your music collection on it too if you want to. When you consider that all the other MP3 music servers that I have seen cost over £600 it's not bad to have this thrown in on a video device that shouldn't cost you more than £330. So the music side is not so comprehensive as a full music server but they cost over double and they don't do video. So if you want to record programmes from SKY and don't want a monthly subscription to SKY+ then this does what you need and more. It's almost like SKY++
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